Chemo #2, 6/24/16
Spent the night with my sissy the past couple nights watching movies. Friday I woke up at 630am to leave by 730am for my 8am appointment to see my oncologist for a followup and then to chemotherapy after. This time I had to get dropped off and go solo. My sisters daughter had been in and out of the emergency room with bad morning sickness that lasted all day and night. She was dehydrated as well. Well, that morning she called crying thinking she might have to go back to the ER because nothing seemed to work. They gave her some medication and nausea medication but she was still not able to hold anything down, she was throwing up and had lost 10lbs in about two weeks! So, luckily she lives in the same apartment complex as us. Her boyfriend walked her over before we left. I told my sister that she could drop me off at my appointment and come back to watch over her daughter jenevieve. I would be at my appointment for at least 6 hours and there was really no need to stay with me the whole time. So that's what she did. I went to have my labs drawn, followed up with my oncologist and headed over to get chemo all by myself. I know that sounds silly but either my mother or sister go with me. They don't want me to go through any of this alone. Which is such a nice gesture. They know it's overwhelming and I'm under alot of stress and being by my side helps my anxiety.
I walked into chemo alone, like a grown adult who's got her ish together. Checked in and took a seat on a recliner. My nurse Marsha came and introduced herself to me. She explained the medications and how long each one would take. She asked if i wanted her to apply the cold numbing spry and I smiled and nodded my head yes. She sprayed my skin above the mediport and accessed it with the 1 inch needle after asking me to take a deep breath as I grasped the sides of my recliner. I looked away and prepared to wince in slight but quick pain but I have to say I really didn't feel much. It was such a relief. I covered my legs with a blanket I brought, reclined in my chair, adjusted my neck roll pillow and grabbed my phone that I had already plugged in to charge when I choose my seat. I caught up on social media, twitter, Facebook, instagram and a little bit of youtube. I was going to be there for about 5 hours so I decided to try and take a nap. It ended up being a two hour nap. When I woke I looked around and hoped that I wasn't snoring. Cause that would have been embarrassing. Then I said to myself that I hoped I wasn't grinding my teeth!! The horror! Lol I moved my jaw around a bit and it didn't feel sore so I'm pretty sure I wasn't grinding my teeth. I don't get the feeling that I was snoring either so that's good. Anyhow, I woke around 12pm. I asked my nurse how much longer she thought I had more or less and she said I'd be done by 1:15pm so I text my sissy so she would know when to pick me up.
1:15pm came and I was all done. As I walked out my sissy was walking towards me from down the hall to meet me. She made sure I had my appointments and my prescriptions before we walked out. She's always on top of things thank goodness cause I sometimes can be forgetful. Especially these last few months where I've had alot on my mind. We head back to the apartment and her daughter is laying on her bed still feeling ill. Poor thing. We watch a movie as I sit on the love seat and they occupy the bed. Me and my sissy then switch and watch orange is the new black episode. Then my neice and her boyfriend go back to their apartment. Me and my sister settle in bed and fall asleep. I have like five pillows to adjust because of my back and my neck. I still have cancer in my spine and I have to lay gently and carefully. Once I find a semi comfortable spot I lay still and try to sleep. I must say I have been able to sleep much better there lately for some reason. I fall asleep at a decent time and I don't wake as often during the night. I have to figure out what I need to do to get that kind of rest at mom's house instead of staying awake all night and finally falling asleep when I see the slightest hint of the morning light come through the windows. Then I sleep till noon or later. Well, at least I'm getting sleep just not during "sleeping hours"
Anyhow, Friday after chemo I felt fine as well as Saturday. I even felt well enough to go to visit my cousin Brenda for her birthday for about 2 hours on Saturday. Let's see how I do tomorrow Sunday. The first time I had chemo I was good for 2 days then the third kicked my butt with nausea and fatigue that lasted a week. Let's see how I do this time around. My oncologist did adjust/lessened the strength of one of my medications (I take three) because of the reaction I had last time that landed me in the hospital for a week. We're trying to avoid a repeat of last time but I was prescribed 2 medications to take if I begin to experience symptoms of the reaction I had last time which was a swollen throat that closed up on me completely. Yeah, let's pray that that doesn't happen again. I'm not kidding please pause for a second and say a little prayer for me, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thank you very much. As always, I will keep you posted.
I walked into chemo alone, like a grown adult who's got her ish together. Checked in and took a seat on a recliner. My nurse Marsha came and introduced herself to me. She explained the medications and how long each one would take. She asked if i wanted her to apply the cold numbing spry and I smiled and nodded my head yes. She sprayed my skin above the mediport and accessed it with the 1 inch needle after asking me to take a deep breath as I grasped the sides of my recliner. I looked away and prepared to wince in slight but quick pain but I have to say I really didn't feel much. It was such a relief. I covered my legs with a blanket I brought, reclined in my chair, adjusted my neck roll pillow and grabbed my phone that I had already plugged in to charge when I choose my seat. I caught up on social media, twitter, Facebook, instagram and a little bit of youtube. I was going to be there for about 5 hours so I decided to try and take a nap. It ended up being a two hour nap. When I woke I looked around and hoped that I wasn't snoring. Cause that would have been embarrassing. Then I said to myself that I hoped I wasn't grinding my teeth!! The horror! Lol I moved my jaw around a bit and it didn't feel sore so I'm pretty sure I wasn't grinding my teeth. I don't get the feeling that I was snoring either so that's good. Anyhow, I woke around 12pm. I asked my nurse how much longer she thought I had more or less and she said I'd be done by 1:15pm so I text my sissy so she would know when to pick me up.
1:15pm came and I was all done. As I walked out my sissy was walking towards me from down the hall to meet me. She made sure I had my appointments and my prescriptions before we walked out. She's always on top of things thank goodness cause I sometimes can be forgetful. Especially these last few months where I've had alot on my mind. We head back to the apartment and her daughter is laying on her bed still feeling ill. Poor thing. We watch a movie as I sit on the love seat and they occupy the bed. Me and my sissy then switch and watch orange is the new black episode. Then my neice and her boyfriend go back to their apartment. Me and my sister settle in bed and fall asleep. I have like five pillows to adjust because of my back and my neck. I still have cancer in my spine and I have to lay gently and carefully. Once I find a semi comfortable spot I lay still and try to sleep. I must say I have been able to sleep much better there lately for some reason. I fall asleep at a decent time and I don't wake as often during the night. I have to figure out what I need to do to get that kind of rest at mom's house instead of staying awake all night and finally falling asleep when I see the slightest hint of the morning light come through the windows. Then I sleep till noon or later. Well, at least I'm getting sleep just not during "sleeping hours"
Anyhow, Friday after chemo I felt fine as well as Saturday. I even felt well enough to go to visit my cousin Brenda for her birthday for about 2 hours on Saturday. Let's see how I do tomorrow Sunday. The first time I had chemo I was good for 2 days then the third kicked my butt with nausea and fatigue that lasted a week. Let's see how I do this time around. My oncologist did adjust/lessened the strength of one of my medications (I take three) because of the reaction I had last time that landed me in the hospital for a week. We're trying to avoid a repeat of last time but I was prescribed 2 medications to take if I begin to experience symptoms of the reaction I had last time which was a swollen throat that closed up on me completely. Yeah, let's pray that that doesn't happen again. I'm not kidding please pause for a second and say a little prayer for me, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thank you very much. As always, I will keep you posted.
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